Back to work

This week is the dreaded testing week -- this year the tests don't impact graduation, but next year the students must score "proficient" in order to graduate. Yikes. We've done our final practice, and now it's time to see whether they can score well. They are a talented lot, as these posters show.

Oh, Canada!

This marks our second Memorial Day weekend spent in Canada!

Bob picked me up from school at 10:50, and we reached Wagner's ( after a ridiculously long "short cut") at 3:15pm.

This was our first view of Lake Seneca. 

Here is Bob driving...

We had a nice meal at Wagner's.

Bob enjoyed his beer sampler while I had a glass of Riesling. Then we drove through some rain and reached the border at about 7:00.

We had a quick snack at the Old Winery, which really didn't impress me much, and then we drove around a bit before meeting Frank and Chris at Zee's.

We saw a lovely sunset along the way.

Frank and friends were in fine form -- we had a fun time chatting with them.

We went from Zee's to the Angel Inn and had more drinks.

Bed after midnight!!

Lazy day in May

I slept horribly last night but powered through the morning, grading a paper and then heading to New Hope for breakfast with Frank and Chris at Fred's Breakfast Club. It was a lovely morning and we all had our favorites. Frank bought me this t-shirt; I love the saying on the wall of the restaurant.

I stopped back at their house to see the newest art installation.

It took them all of one day to have the glass installed and then add real plants around the glass pieces. Wow!

Then it was back home with a stop at Peddler's Village. 

I saw this guy waiting to take a picture of the old-time train that runs behind Frank's house, so I decided to take a picture, too. 

I found a few things to buy at Lahaska, got gas, dropped off clothing at the Good Will in Souderton, and then bought the dishwasher and stove that I had looked at the day before -- as Bob said, "Happy Mother's Day to me!!

I just finished grading another paper and am contemplating a visit to the Pizza Pub for a sandwich...

Random day in May...

Wow, have I ever been slipping on this blog thing... I should update the things we've done since November, but right now I'm in the annual vortex of grading critical papers and prepping for the state Keystone English Literature exam...so I'll get back to this later.

Random shoe pic from niece Nicole's shower...

Random moments in October

So it's November 9, and the first marking period ended yesterday!

Bob and I were actually able to see Frank's first Mendelssohn Club concert at the Kimmel Center.

First, we had dinner at a.table.

It was a delicious 1000 Open Table points meal!

Then we stopped at Pain Quotidien for al fresco coffee -- and a little smooch.

And then it was off to the choral-organ concert, which was lovely, as was the venue.

It was a great evening -- here's the mural near where we parked our car.

Here's part of my Halloween costume -- I was Queen Elizabeth, and one of my students played Harry.

I discovered that I was actually channeling my mom....

Some of the English teachers dressed for the day.

Prince Harry looks awesome along with a character from Dr Who.

This was the view from our side porch last weekend.

Another arty shot of our back yard...

Day two in NYC.

We awoke at 7:45am -- wow, a great night's sleep!  We were meeting Andrea and Marlon and the kids at 10:00am at The Bluebell Cafe.
http://www.thebluebellcafenyc.com/welcome.html
By 9:15 we had checked out and retrieved our car, and I found a primo spot on 22nd Street close to 3rd Avenue.  Little-known secret: on Sunday all on-street parking is FREE in Manhattan!!!  So awesome.

Anyway, we snagged a 6-person table when we knew they were close to the place.  The children are still clinging to Mommy, but they warmed up to us as Bob was just being Bob -- a fabulous grandpa wanna-be.

Nori and Andrea were apparently looking at a sign on the wall...

 Lorenzo was pretending that his bacon was his tongue...

 Marlon and Nori were checking out a coloring book...

 Nori was contemplating her choice of colors...

 And once out on the street, Nori modeled her ensemble.

Lorenzo showed off his Star Wars jacket.

 And Nori was jumping!

And we ended our visit with Bob and Lorenzo dueling!

Initially stressful but ultimately fun weekend in NYC.

Bob was due home on Friday morning, but because of three truck breakdowns related to the same issue, Friday evening found him near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border, and he couldn't begin driving until 4:30am. We had matinee tickets for Once, so I was torn -- should I see if Frank and Chris wanted the tickets or try to make the show by meeting Bob in Keasbey, NJ, where he could park the truck for the night. We decided on the latter, figuring that we could at least see the second half of the show. And we timed things so well that I arrived only five minutes before Bob, who is seen backing his rig into a teeny space.

And here's another shot of one of places where one can get a tanker washed out.

So Bob changed in the truck, and off we went at 12:30 to Manhattan.

Believe or not, we parked on 28th Street, stowed our bags at the Hotel Indigo, and made it to the theater in time to buy an expensive beer in a sippy cup onstage before the play Once began!

After enjoying an excellent production, we walked back to the hotel, rested for a few minutes, and then left for dinner at our favorite NYC restaurant, Colicchio and Sons taproom across the street from the Chelsea market.
 http://www.craftrestaurantsinc.com/colicchio-and-sons/
On the way, we saw two subway entrance signs where someone had carefully added a tilde decal to the NR line -- too funny!

Our beer guy Chase was off, but his associate, Jessica, talked to us, and somehow we ended up with soup and two of our four beers on the house - wow. Here's the soup and Bob's bone marrow appetizer and duck confit entree. I was being good, so I ordered skate and beef carpaccio.

On the walk back to the hotel, I decided that we had to walk by Rosa Mexicano for a pomegranate margarita -- yummy as always.

And then we had some spectacular views of the Empire State Building as we walked up Broadway.

Here's another shot.

Back to the hotel by 10:15 and in bed by 10:30...